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Design007-Jun2018

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28 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2018
designs. The new generation of 3D multi-board
product-level design tools enable real-time 3D
hierarchical design, allowing design teams
to concurrently create any combination of
advanced stack dies, packages and PCBs. With
a native 2D and 3D architecture, designers
can effectively co-design a chip, package and
board to optimize I/Os at each level, embed
components in the dielectric of a stack-up
intelligently, and verify manufacturing rules
in real-time. Next-generation tools manage
multiple boards and their associated enclo-
sures simultaneously and provide collision
checking directly in the native ECAD tool. The
new integrated 3D multi-board chip-package-
board co-design environment makes it possi-
ble to holistically optimize the package, board
and IC design to a greater degree than was
possible in the past with the end result being
higher performance and lower manufacturing
costs.
DESIGN007
Bob Potock is vice president of
marketing for Zuken USA.
A team of material researchers from Jülich, Munich,
and Prague has succeeded in producing a composite
material that is particularly suited for electrodes in lith-
ium batteries. The nanocomposite material might help to
significantly increase the storage capacity and lifetime of
batteries as well as their charging speed. The research-
ers have published their findings in the journal Advanced
Functional Materials.
Lithium-ion batteries are the ultimate benchmark when
it comes to mobile phones, tablet devices, and electric
cars. Their storage capacity and power density are far
superior to other rechargeable battery systems. Despite
all the progress that has been made, however, smart-
phone batteries only last a day and electric cars need
hours to be recharged. Scientists are therefore working on
ways to improve the power densities and charging rates
of all-round batteries. "An important factor is the anode
material," explains Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing from the
Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-1).
One way of addressing this problem is hybrid materi-
als or nanocomposites – composite materials that contain
nanoparticles. The scientists developed a material com-
prising tin oxide nanoparticles enriched with antimony,
on a base layer of graphene. The graphene basis aids the
structural stability and conductivity of the material. The
tin oxide particles are less than three nanometres in size
– in other words less than three millionths of a millimetre
– and are directly "grown" on the graphene. The small size
of the particle and its good con-
tact with the graphene layer also
improves its tolerance to volume
changes – the lithium cell becomes
more stable and lasts longer.
"The nanocomposite anodes
can be produced in an easy and
cost-effective way. And the applied
concepts can also be used for the
design of other anode materials
for lithium-ion batteries," explains
Fattakhova-Rohlfing. "We hope that
our development will pave the way
for lithium-ion batteries with a sig-
nificantly increased energy density
and very short charging time."
Turbocharge for Lithium Batteries